Chapter 4 - THE COAT IN THE MUDROOM
I didn’t scream.
I didn’t even turn around.
I just grabbed Leo’s hand, pulled him hard against my chest, and lunged forward, rolling us away from the top of the stairs.
A heavy hand swiped through the air right where my shoulder had been a second before.
“Smart girl.”
The voice was gravelly. Deep.
I scrambled to my feet, dragging Leo behind me, and finally looked at the man standing at the top of the staircase.
He was massive.
He wore a heavy, dark wool coat with a fur collar.
But it wasn't Victor Rossi.
This man didn't have a scar. He had cold, dead eyes and was holding a suppressed pistol.
“Where is she?” the man asked.
“Who?” I stammered, backing slowly down the hallway toward the guest wing.
“Vanessa,” the man growled. “She missed the rendezvous at the gate. If Rossi finds out she double-crossed us, he’s going to burn this house down with everyone in it.”
My mind raced.
Answer one: Vanessa hadn't left with Rossi. She had run away from him.
Open two: Why did she leave her watch? And what did she take instead?
“I don’t know where she is,” I said, keeping myself firmly between the gun and Leo.
The man took a step forward.
Before he could take another, a loud click echoed through the hallway.
The man froze.
Standing at the other end of the corridor was Luca.
He wasn't holding a phone anymore. He was holding a sleek, black handgun, aimed directly at the back of the intruder's head.
“Drop it,” Luca said softly.
The man chuckled. “You shoot me, Luca, and Rossi kills your fiancée.”
“My fiancée is currently climbing the back fence with my mother’s diamonds,” Luca said, his voice entirely devoid of emotion. “She played both of us. Drop the gun.”
The man hesitated.
That was all Luca needed.
He didn't shoot to kill. He stepped forward with terrifying speed, brought the heavy grip of his gun down onto the back of the man's knee, and as the intruder buckled, Luca struck him across the temple.
The man collapsed onto the carpet, unconscious.
Luca didn't even look at him.
He looked at me. Then at Leo.
“Are you hurt?”
“No,” I breathed, pulling Leo tighter against my legs. “We’re okay.”
Luca knelt down and quickly searched the unconscious man's pockets.
He pulled out a set of keys and a thick envelope.
Luca ripped the envelope open.
Inside were two things.
A pair of one-way train tickets to Montreal.
And a birth certificate.
Luca unfolded the thick paper. His eyes scanned the ink.
Slowly, the color drained from his face.
He looked up at Leo.
Then he looked at me.
“This birth certificate isn't for a baby Vanessa had eighteen years ago,” Luca whispered.
He handed me the paper.
I read the name at the top.
Leonardo Bellini Rossi.
I stopped breathing.
I looked down at the sweet, six-year-old boy clinging to my apron.
Leo wasn't Luca’s nephew.
Leo was Vanessa and Victor Rossi’s son.
“My brother didn't adopt an orphan,” Luca said, his voice laced with horror and realization. “He took Rossi’s child after the raid in Palermo. He hid him here.”
Vanessa hadn’t spent ten months pretending to love Luca to steal his money.
She had endured ten months in her enemy’s house to get her son back.
And she had just used the engagement dinner chaos to make her move.
But she didn't take Leo.
“If Vanessa is running,” I whispered, “why did she leave him behind?”
Luca stared at the train tickets.
“Because she didn't come for Leo.”
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He stood up, his eyes darkening with a fury I had never seen before.
“She came for the only thing worth more than her son. She came for the green trunk in the cedar room.”
